The Rubik's cube, which may be defined as a three-dimensional twist puzzle, and the Lloyd square, a two-dimensional slide puzzle involving the movement of tiles, have become staples in the hand-held or hand-controlled puzzle field.
As is well known, the Rubik's cube puzzle or game involves side walls forming the Rubik's cube having different colors and the object of the game is to align all the common colors on one side of the large cube by manipulating groups of cubes about various axes.
Another popular game wherein square blocks are manipulated about a board is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 785,665, granted on Mar. 21, 1905. Also, in U. S. Pat. No. 3,081,089 there is disclosed a manipulatable toy in the form of a mechanical puzzle which includes a plurality of varied color parts which are movable relative to each other to form various patterns. Other U. S. patents which may be referred to for their disclosures of manipulatable puzzles or games are U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,452,454 and 4,949,969.
Of the above-noted puzzles, the Rubik's cube, has been ver popular in recent years, and the Lloyd square has been popluar for a more extended period. However, the novelty of any such games or puzzles has a limited lifetime.
Accordingly, it is a fundamental object of the present invention to provide a new puzzle that will stimulate and challenge the puzzle solver.